Security Card Swipes Led to Arrest of Worker in Yale Grad Student Murder
A lab technician was arrested today and charged with the murder of a 24-year-old graduate student whose body was found this weekend in the Yale University building in which both she and the suspect worked on what was to have been her wedding day.
A pattern of security card use within the building pointed authorities to Raymond Clark, also 24, and he was arrested after a DNA test linked him to evidence in the murder of Annie Le, reports Bloomberg. She apparently was strangled to death five days before her body was found in a Yale School of Medicine research lab.
The crime has been particularly upsetting to those in the university community because it was not prevented by extensive security measures, according to the news agency and Fox News. In addition to surveillance cameras and swipe cards that were required not only to enter the building but to enter areas within it, the university does background checks on workers before employing them.
However, Richard Levin, the president of the university, said in a written statement today that “this incident could have happened in any city, in any university or in any workplace. It says more about the dark side of the human soul than it does about the extent of security measures.”
Citing an unidentified law enforcement source, the Associated Press reports that co-workers say Clark was a “control freak” about the laboratory and mice for which he was responsible and speculates that a challenge to his authority by Le might have led to a deadly workplace confrontation.
Earlier related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Prof’s Daughter, 17, Is Murdered After Alleged Kidnap in L.A. Law School Area”
Updated at 7 p.m. to include information from subsequent Associated Press article.
